Snow (Various x Oc)
by emiliearenkid
Summary: Tyra Fanning lived most of her lives in the canyons, never leaving the cave systems that she called home. It was not such bad life, her mother had died after her birth and her father lived only long enough to make sure that Tyra could care for herself before joining her. It was a quiet life until a group of four people were drawn to the area and her life was changed forever.
1. Home

The dry wind blew through Tyra's daily life like every other. It was a monotonous life, yet one that taught her several important lessons. Every day seemed to have the same routine, yet this was what made sure that the little aspects were the most important. For example, on a day that had begun like every other, midday had brought newcomers to the caverns that she called home. 

Peering out from inside the cavern that she most commonly lived in, two figures stood looking down curiously into the pit. One, a short and thin being with what could be described as fluffy hair wearing navy blue shorts and a white and green jacket. The other much darker-skinned wearing an orange headband and brown trousers with a yellow shirt covered by a green vest. He seemed to be carrying a strange instrument that made odd sounds to Tyra's ears. 

After being joined with two others, one with shoulder length black hair in the back and a red, white, and black jacket that she briefly recognized and another other with short brown hair and a white t-shirt covered by an olive-colored jacket, they proceeded to enter the proximity of the cave. Tyra immediately rushed into a side corridor to grab her weapon of choice, a short wooden pole with a sharp rock tied on at it's head. The newcomers did not seem particularly hostile but she would be damned if they were planning to take away the canyon's treasure. 

Returning to the entrance to the main pathway, Tyra notices that the group seems to be in awe of the many markings on the walls. Truthfully, she did not know much about the exact origin of the wall paintings, however she did have some knowledge of their meaning. 

"What are these?" questions the oldest of the five. His most defining feature was the streak of white through his otherwise black hair and what seemed to be an arm made completely out of metal.

"They tell a story that does not have anything to do with you," Tyra answers, stepping out from the side corridor to point her weapon at the intruders. They all looked agape at the girl and her rough appearance. Red choppy hair from being cut only by glass or metal found when exploring matched the rugged look of clothes found from several different sources. The ones worn now used to be worn by her father when he was alive, a loose, long-sleeved, brown jacket that had accumulated years of dirt and dust, no matter how much she washed it, along with dark blue jeans that were so long that she had sewed them at the ends to work as coverings for her heels.

"Who are you?" The male in red questioned suspiciously.

"What are you doing here?" She questions in return, gripping the weapon tighter.

"We came looking for something called a Voltron and we think he might be hidden somewhere in these canyons," the black one explained cautiously.

"I cannot let you take the treasure," Tyra reinforces, stepping forwards towards them.

"We do not want to fight," he attempts to pacify the angry girl. "Did you see the meteor last night?" Receiving only a nod, he continues, "There are aliens coming to this planet who seek to find what we're looking for and destroy us with it."

"Why should I trust you?" She questions, putting the weapon to her side to use as a staff.

"You can trust me with anything," the olive-jacketed one smirks. Simultaneously, everyone either groaned or sighed at his antics. It was really quite comical. Tyra practically growls at him, a wild and animalistic sound that brought everyone back to the problem at hand.

"We have to get through, even if by force," the red one mutters, stepping forward in an attempt to get the girl to back off.

"I will die fighting," she replies moving to point the spear at his neck.

"Wait, wait, wait," the yellow ones interrupts. "What if we just take her with us?" At the incredulous looks from his companions, he explains. "She obviously must live here or something so she probably knows something about this Voltron that we do not, plus she could help us when these guys attack."

"Hunk," the olive one mutters. "You're a genius."

"Is that really safe though?" The shortest speaks up. "She literally just said that she would die protecting whatever it is. Not to mention that she's dangerous."

With a sigh, the black one, who seemed to be the unofficial leader, made his decision. "What is your name?" He asked gently, motioning for Keith to step away from her.

Without letting her posture change, she answered honestly. "My name is Tyra."

"Tyra, you want to protect what we are looking for correct?"

"If that wasn't obvious by now, yes."

"Would it be alright if we pass on to find Voltron and you lead us? If anyone steps over their boundaries, we will leave immediately, but we must at least see what it looks like."

Several emotions flitted over Tyra's face while she tried to decide what course of action to take. His offer was tempting, but she was still uncertain. "Would you leave and never tell anyone about this place or what hides here?

"Of course."

With a controlled breath, she turns around and mutters, "Follow me," knowing if they would follow without having to look. Suddenly, a blue light fills the hall as the paintings on the wall glow.

"Woah," everyone, including Tyra, mutters in awe.

"They've never done that before," exclaims the red one just before the rock under them crumbles away and they fall through. In her haste, Tyra tries to grab onto some of the stable rock but to no avail. They slide down a stream of water, the one that Tyra used for drinking, until they reach the bottom, splashing into an underground pool.

The group all widen their eyes at the structure before them and she cannot help the slight smirk that comes to her face. "They are everywhere..." the blue one gasps, quickly standing up with everyone else.

"Is this it? Is this the Voltron?" The youngest questions.  
"It must be," the leader nods.  
The red one mutters, "This is what's been causing all of this crazy energy out here."  
"What energy?" Tyra asks.  
"Nothing," he dismisses, approaching the blue barrier surrounding the metal animal. "Looks like there's a force field around it."

Tyra joins the others as they too walk towards it, explaining that, "It's been there for as long as I can remember. Nothing I have found can penetrate it."  
"Does anyone else get the feeling this is staring at them?" The blue one questions, zig-zagging his way to it.

The leader gives a sigh, muttering, "No."  
"Yeah," he mutters absentmindedly. "The eyes are totally following me."  
"Maybe you look like it's next meal," Tyra mutters loud enough for everyone to hear in the echoing cavern. The green one lets out a chuckle and she couldn't help but grin at the quickly hidden smiles of the red one and the one named 'Hunk.'

The red one put his hands on the smooth and impenetrable surface of the sphere, thinking aloud. "I wonder how we can get through this."  
The olive one leisurely walks up to the forcefield and thinks for a second. "Maybe you just have to knock," he suggests, tapping on the glassy surface.

A ripple spreads through the entire bubble as everyone takes a step back in panic. The animal's eyes glow with an unearthly yellow light as the field dissolves before their eyes and the symbols carved into the ground glow the same blue from before. In everyone's head, an image forms of five lions coming together as one. Standing proudly beside the figure was a white structure, resembling a lion but not quite the same shape or build.

Everyone stood in shock at what they had seen, slowly coming back into awareness and looking at the animal differently. "Uh," the olive one begins. "Did everyone just see that?"

"Voltron is a robot!" Hunk exclaims. "Voltron is a huge, _huge,_ awesome robot!"  
"And this is only one part of it! I wonder where the rest of them are?" The youngest questions.  
"This is what they're looking for," the leader states.  
"Incredible," mutters the red one.  
"Indeed," she nods, mouth agape.

The lion slowly lowers its head down to the group and Tyra puts up her spear, not knowing if it might attack them for disturbing its slumber. Instead, the jaw opens, revealing a set of stairs leading up and into the beast. The one who had broken the field grinned, running right up the stairs and into the contraption to Tyra's dismay.

"Wait!" She calls, dashing past the red one and following the blue one up into the cockpit. She gets there in time to hear him shout in surprise as the chair that he is sitting on moves forwards and several displays come into view. The main one appears to be a camera-like view of what's going on outside the vehicle whereas the others seem to be either ways to make the lion move or status updates.

"Okay, guys and hostile girl, I feel the need to point out, just so that we're all, you know, aware. We are in some kind of futuristic alien cat head right now," Hunk gushes animatedly. The driver seemed to be out of it for a moment as everyone else responded to him.

"Woah. Did you guys just hear that?" He questions, turning around to look at everyone excitedly.  
"Hear what?" The red asks, pulling the words right from her head.  
"I-I think it's talking to me."  
"I would not be surprised," Tyra interjects. "There is evidence from other carvings that these animals were once functional, even if not completely, on their own will."

The olive one peruses his options over the control panel before finally hitting a series of holographic buttons, the lion responding readily to his demands. The small room shakes as Tyra, along with Hunk and the smallest one shout in surprise, nearly falling over as it roars loudly into the cavern.

"Okay," he smirks. "Got it. Now, let's try this." He grips two handles and pushes them all the way forwards, the lion bounding straight ahead to break through the rock and out into the sunlight. As it nears the ground, something on it's feet activates to slow their descent until it floats above the ground, only touching briefly before shooting up and into the sky.

The two most vocal of the group scream as the contraption spins this way and that, everyone trying to stay upright by either holding on to each other or the walls. Bracing herself, Tyra slips into the back hallway, using the smaller space to clench her feet and shoulders against while she works to untie the arrowhead from her spear. Having successfully completed that, she takes a second when they had righted themselves to wedge the hard wood between the walls in case something like that happened again.

"You are-" she hears the red one yelling. "The worst...pilot...ever!" And she could not have agreed more. She had barely an idea what had happened other than they were now flying in the sky in a metal lion and they were far away from where they had began. The screaming would not stop as a burst of speed sent her flying backwards, almost smacking into the door had she not grabbed her staff in time to stop her acceleration.

The ride got more bumpy, albeit staying on one plane, when they landed on the ground once more. Peaking her head around the open doorway, the driver was grinning in exhilaration while Hunk was begging him to, "Make if stop."

"I'm not making it do anything. It's like it's on autopilot," the driver rebuttals, his grin widening.  
"Where are you going?" The red one complains when they lift off into the air again.  
"I just said it's on autopilot!" He replies as if it were obvious. "It says there's an alien ship approaching Earth. I think we're supposed to stop it."

"What did it say, exactly?" The smallest, and probably smartest, of the group asked.  
"Well it's not like it's saying words. It's more like feeding ideas into my brain, kind of."  
"If this thing is the weapons they're coming for," Hunk suggests. "Why don't we just, like, I don't know, give it to them? Maybe they'll leave us alone. Sorry, lion. Nothing personal."

"Absolutely not," Tyra cuts in, rage clear on her face as she returns to the room.  
"You don't understand," the black one explains. "These monsters spread like a plague throughout the galaxy, destroying everything in their path. There's no bargaining with them. They won't stop until everything is dead."  
"I would die before I let anyone else have this in their hands," Tyra affirms.

"Oh," Hunk blinks, embarrassed under everyone's gaze. "Never mind then." From the image on the camera, it looks like they had left Earth's atmosphere entirely, and Tyra was starting to have second thoughts. A second away from expressing her discomfort, a purple ship soared into view, cutting her unsaid words off.

"Holy crow!" Hunk shouts nervously. "Is that an alien ship?" The lion flies over to the side of the ship, pausing as everyone gazed at it.  
"They found me," the black one mutters apprehensively, Tyra's eyes darting suspiciously over to him.

She opened her mouth to question him but was immediately shut up as beams of light shot out of the enemy ship towards them. "We've got to get it out of here!" The youngest shouts in a panic.  
"Hang on!" The pilot calls, pulling back on the controls as the lion starts attempting to dodge the malicious beams. "Alright. Okay, I think I know what to do."  
"Be careful, man." The youngest warns. "This isn't a simulator."  
"Well, that's good. I always wreck the simulator."

A beam of its own shoots out of the lion's mouth in retribution, tearing a line through the hull of this ship as explosions followed it. Confidently, the male mutters, "Let's try this," before pulling back on the controls once more, trailing the lion along the side of the ship and tearing the metal with its claws.

"Nice job, Lance," the red one congratulates who Tyra now knows to be Lance.  
"Okay. I think it's time to get these guys away from our planet," he decides, shooting off into space.  
Only a second later and Hunk notices the ship approaching, getting confirmation from the green boy.  
"It's weird," Lance comments. "They're not trying to shoot us. They're just chasing."

"Okay, seriously, now we think having aliens follow us is good?! I am not on board with this new direction, guys." Hunk exclaims.  
"Where are we?" The red one questions, glaring at Lance from behind.  
The black one at his side answers the question with, "The edge of the solar system. There's Kerberos."

"It takes months for our ships to get out this far!" The green one exclaims. "We got out here in five seconds." Suddenly a very large glowing circle appeared directly in front of them.  
"What is that?" Hunk asked, the question on everyone's mind.  
"This may seem crazy, but I think the lion wants us to go through there," Lance exclaims.  
"Where does it go?" The smallest questions quietly.  
"I-I don't know," Lance stutters. "Shiro, you're the senior officer here. What should we do?"

The man in black answers, confirming that he was in fact the leader. "Whatever is happening, the lion knows more than we do. I say we trust it, but we're a team now. We should decide together."  
One after the other, everyone looks at Lance and puts their hand on his shoulder for confirmation, everyone except Tyra. It had seemed that everyone had forgotten about her existence during the recent battle and its aftermath.

She remained quiet, barely breathing from her position in the doorway. "Alright," Lance decides, piloting the lion straight into the glowing circle. "Guess we're all ditching class tomorrow." Immediately, the velocity of the lion accelerates as they are pulled through the portal faster than before, everyone grabbing onto Lance's chair to hold them steady. Since there was no room, Tyra was pushed up against the wall, holding onto the end of her staff for dear life as she slowly slid up the cool metal.

With a burst, they finally came out on the other side, Tyra slipping to the floor quite ungracefully. "Woah," Lance begins. "That was-" Hunk interrupts him by vomiting off to the side, much to everyone's displeasure.  
"I'm just surprised it took this long," the youngest shrugs, fixing their glasses without a care in the world.  
"I don't recognize any of these constellations," Shiro comments, gazing out into space. "We must be a long, _long,_ way from Earth."  
A sudden wave of panic shoots through Tyra as she takes in the reality of their situation. They had just flown through thousands upon thousands of miles to reach his place, fought an alien ship, travelled through a portal, and now they sailed down to a new planet.  
Coming back into the real world she hears Lance say that "I think it's going home," before they sail into it's atmosphere.


	2. Lion

The blue lion entered the foreign atmosphere like a meteor, bursting into flame before the frigid temperatures of the clouds cooled the metal as they continued their descent. Breaking through the cloud barrier Tyra gaped at the beauty of the land, her awe only interrupted by Lance who, in response to everyone crowding his chair, exclaimed, "Hey guys, personal space! Hunk, your breath is killing me."

"Um," Hunk ignores the jab, instead focusing on more important things. "Is it just me, or is anyone else having second thoughts about flying through a mysterious wormhole? Why are we listening to a robotic lion anyway?"  
"It got us away from that alien warship, didn't it?" Lance defends.  
"I don't know if you noticed, but we're in an alien warship." The red one replies.

"He's not wrong!" Tyra calls, wrenching her staff from between the walls and entering the cockpit to really join the others as they approached the ground.  
"Oh, are you scared?" Lance asks smugly.  
"With you at the helm?" The red one replies. "Terrified."  
"Are you sure that you've flown something before?" Tyra questions, leaning forward to look at the controls.  
"You're certainly one to be asking," Lance rebuttals.

All right, knock it off." Shiro cuts in before it can get too heated. "No one's happy to be in this situation, but we're here now. If we want to get through this, we got to do it together."  
"So," the green one questions. "What do we do?"  
"First, we find out where we're headed," Shiro replies. "Lance?"  
"I...don't know." He looks around uncomfortably, knowing that everyone was counting on him.

"I'm sorry. The lion's not talking to me anymore. Wait!" He exclaims suddenly. "Wait, wait, wait! Shh! Listen. I think I hear something."  
A high-pitched squeaking noise fills the area as the red one mutters, "I'm hearing it, too."  
"It's, uh- It's kind of a-a high-pitched squeal?" Hhnk questions uncrentainly.

Tyra's eyebrows scrunch together in confusion before everyone collectively groans, the smell hitting her only a second later. It was certainly an unpleasant smell but nothing to be particularly ashamed or so disgusted by. In fact she chuckled at everyone's reaction as they all covered their noses in disgust, telling him off for it.

They all turned around to stare at her with wide eyes, her laughter immediately growing quiet under their onslaught. "I can't believe it, you just laughed," muttered the astounded, red-jacketed, male.  
"What?" She questions incredulously. "You think I don't have a sense of humor?"  
"You haven't exactly been the most outspoken person here," the green one comments.  
"W-Well yeah but-"

"Okay guys, but seriously," Lance interrupts. "There's a castle up ahead."  
As they all turn back to look, a collective, "Wow," is shared at the sight. A very long white bridge that did not look too sturdy entered into a central building surrounded by four other white and blue outcroppings at each corner of the very small island.

As they approached, the tips of each of the five sections glowed a brilliant blue and as they came to a halt in front of grandiose doors, Tyra marveled at it all.  
Despite the magnificence, Shiro muttered, "Keep your guard up."  
"Is something wrong?" The green one asks.  
"My crew was captured by aliens once. I'm not going to let it happen again."

With that in mind, everyone waits for Lance to release the lion's mouth so they can exit the metal ship. Just as they all exit and Tyra has retied the arrow to her spear, everyone gasps as the lion suddenly closes its mouth and rises to stand.  
"Oh, no! I knew it was going to eat us! Oh no!" Hunk cries in dismay, already planning his death.  
"Not if I can help it," Tyra mutters, blue eyes flashing as she steps in front of the group, her spear pointed towards the beast.

Instead of eating them however, it simply roars, causing a light blue energy to flood through the indents in the doorway to allow it to open. The inside seemed to be a dark corridor, the only light being that from the door that recently opened which did not reveal very much. "Oh," Hunk realizes, coming out from his hiding place behind Shiro. "The door is open. Guess I was wrong about you."

Without much comment, the team entered the darkness, leaving behind the robot to stand guard. "Hello?" Hunk calls out, only receiving an echo in reply.  
"From the size of the lion," the green one comments. "I expected these steps to be bigger." No sooner had they said that than more blue light filled the hall, this time hovering completely around the team.  
"Hold for identity scan," a robotic voice calls out.  
As each member is shrouded in a blue ring, Shiro pipes up with, "Why are we here? What do you want with us?" His only response we're wall-sconces flickering on, revealing a set of stairs and another dark hallway.

"Woah," muttered Lance and the green one finished, "I guess we're going that way." As they ambulated through the corridors, sconces turned on the farther along they got, as if controlled by motion-sensors.  
"Hello?" Hunk calls again, receiving the same echo as before. He does it one more time, to no avail, before the team finally makes it to a set of doors that hiss open to reveal a much larger chamber.

It was unlike anything Tyra had seen before. All of this was more than she had seen before. Her life was spent in sand and rock, the most interesting object to look at being the lion or her jagged tiger's tooth on a string, a momento of her mother.  
"Where are we?" Lance questions as they enter.  
"It's some kind of control room," the green one infers, peering down at a futuristic technological stand.

Tyra is drawn away from her perusal of everything in sight, looking for potential danger, by a hissing sound and smoke coming into her vision as some sort of ovular spheroid arose from the floor, quickly followed by another.

"Are these guys...dead?" Hunk questions while being hidden by the control panel. The blue screen covering the first one falls away in a shimmer, revealing a very dark-skinned and white-haired woman. Tyra steps forward with hostility as the woman snaps awake with a shouted "Father!" before falling forwards.

For better or worse, Lance is there to catch the very well-dressed woman before she can topple to the floor. When she looks up, their faces are only inches apart when Tyra begins to glare. If that woman tried anything she swears...

"Hello," Lance smirks, deepening his voice seductively.  
"Who are you? Where am I?" The older lady asks in confusion, looking towards the gathered humans.  
"I'm Lance," he plows on, unperturbed. "And you're right here in my arms."  
"You're...ears," the girl mutters in surprise.  
"Yeah?" Lance questions.

The mystified expression on the woman's face is dropped immediately, replaced with one that screamed irritation. "They're hideous. What's wrong with them?"  
"Nothing's wrong with them!" Lance defends indignantly. "They heard exactly what you said about them!"

Suddenly the woman, grabs his ear and spins him around, pining her elbow at the back of his neck so he couldn't turn around. "Who are you?" She questions as a growl rumbles deep in Tyra's throat. "Where is King Alfor? What are you doing in my castle?"  
"A giant blue lion brought us here!" Lance explains. "That's all we know."

"How do you have the blue lion?" She questions, dropping her hold on him. Slowly, the sound ceases from Tyra as the woman turned to fully face the group. What happened to its paladin? What are you all doing here? Unless...How long had it been?"  
"We don't know what you're talking about. Why don't you tell us who you are? Maybe we can help." Shiro tries, calming the situation down considerably.

"I am Princess Allura of Planet Altea," the princess explains. "I've got to find out where we are and how long we're been asleep." She moves over to the control panel, placing her hands so that holographic screens pop up.  
"Okay," the green one exclaims. "That's how that works."

In doing so, the next pod shimmered away to reveal an older man with a shock of orange hair on both his head and mustache, as well as matching ears with Allura's pointed ones. His reaction was a much more dramatic gasp and the hasty words, "Enemy combatants!" Launching into a flying kick towards Lance, who simply stepped to his right to dodge the strike.

"Quiznak!" The man shouts as he grabs onto the other pod to keep his balance. "You're lucky I have a case of the old 'Sleep Chamber Knees.' Otherwise, I'd grab your head like this, wrap you up like so- then one, two, three," he snaps his fingers, miming his actions. "Sleepy time!"  
"Well, before you did that, I'd..." Lance trails off, miming his own series of chops and kicks. For being a boy he was certainly more flexible than she would have given him credit for.

"Oh really?!" The man shouts, getting far too into what looks to have transformed into sort of game between the two. "Well, how could you do that when I've already come at you with this?"  
"It can't be," Allura calls incredulously.  
"What is it?" The man asks, ceasing his rhetorical battle.  
"We've been asleep for 10,000 years."

Allura seems to lose focus in her gaze, remembering a different time, before snapping back to her harsh reality. "Planet Altea and all of the planets in our solar system have been destroyed. Coran, Father is gone. Our entire civilization." A darker tone comes into her voice as she remembered who did this to her, "Zarkon."

Shiro takes a step backward, panic written over his face as Tyra mutters a quiet, "Shiro?" As she steps closer to him.  
"Zarkon?" He thinks aloud, seeming to have not heard her.  
"He was the King of the Galra," Allura explains. "A vile creature and an enemy to all free people."

"I remember now..." Shiro relates. "I was his prisoner."  
"He's still alive? Impossible!" Allura denies vehemently.  
"I can't explain it, but it's true. He's searching for a super weapons called Voltron."  
"He's searching for it because he knows it's the only thing that can defeat him," Allura explains. "and that's exactly why we must find it before he does."

Coran leaves as they all ponder the Princess' words and returns with some sort of green jelly-like substance. "Princess, you must eat, he begins. "It's been 10,000 years."  
"I'm not hungry," she denies, continuing to focus on the display in front of her.

"Man, 10,000 years?" Lance thinks aloud. "That's like one thousand plus ten."  
"That's times ten," the red one interrupts.  
"Whatever, dropout."  
"Dropout?" Tyra questions, not understanding the jibe.  
"He got kicked out of this space training school that we all went to for "disciplinary issues," Lance explains, putting visible air-quotes around the disciplinary issues part.  
"Oh..." she mutters awkwardly.

"I can't believe your civilization created such advanced technology 10,000 years ago," Shiro comments, saving her from having to listen to any more of their conversation. "It must have been an incredible place."  
"Yes it was..." Coran agrees, turning his head to look at Allura as he finishes. But now it is gone and we're the last Alteans alive."

He walks over to her as her face saddens until she suddenly embraces Coran in a hug, sobbing on his shoulder. With a jerk, she straightens and hurried past everyone as if looking for something. She mutters something too quietly to hear before an alarm starts blaring and the blue holographic screen morphs into a malicious crimson.

"A Galra battleship has set its track to us!" Coran interprets.  
"How did they find us?" Allura asks, panicked.  
"I'm not sure," Lance pipes up. "But I bet it's Keith's fault."  
"Say whatever you got to say to make yourself feel better," the red one replies, glaring side-long at the brown-haired male. "After getting us stuck on the other side of a wormhole!"  
"I'll stick you on the other side of a wormhole!" Lance rebuttals, getting up in Keith's face.

"Stow it, cadets!" Shiro shouts, pushing Lance back a step. "This is no time to place blame. It's time to work as a team. How long before they arrive?" He questions, turning back to the Alteans.  
"At their speed?" Coran answers. "Well, carry the two...I'd say probably a could of days."  
"Good. Let them come!" Allura chimes in. "By the time they get here, you five will have reformed Voltron, and together, we will destroy Zarkon's empire!"

Hunk, who had been almost continually eating up until that point, burps loudly, all eyes flickering over to his messy visage. "Sorry. Food goo," he apologizes as his stomach rumbles.  
"Princess, there are five more of these lions. How will we find the rest?" Shiro questions.

Allura and her mice lead the squad through halls that they had yet to explore until they reached a room held up by arching beams along the black walls. As she stepped onto a platform in the center, a blue light covered her and Coran explained, "King Alfor connected the lion's to Allura's life force. She alone is the key to the lions', and tiger's whereabouts.

"Tiger?" The seemingly-nameless green one questions.  
"You'll see," was his cryptic reply.  
Suddenly, everyone gasped as lights shot out into the room, forming glowing blue spheres suspended in the air to resemble a night's sky.  
"These are coordinates," the youngest notices. "The Black Lion looks like it's in the same location as the Blue Lion.

"Look at your primitive synapses firing away in their little brain cage," Coran comments as if talking to an actual child.  
"Very observant. That's because the Black Lion is in the castle," Allura explains in a much more informative tone than Coran's.  
"To keep the Black Lion out of Zarkon's hands, King Alfor locked it in the castle. It can only be freed if the other four lions are present," he adds.

"As you have found, the lions choose their pilots. It is a mystical bond and cannot be forced. The quintessence of the pilot is mirrored in his lion. Together, they form something greater than science can explain," Allura continues, moving around the holographic galaxy to find a specific point. "The Black Lion is the decisive head of Voltron. It will take a pilot who is a born leader and in control at all times. Someone whose men will follow without hesitation. That is why, Shiro, you will pilot the Black Lion."

"The Green Lion has an inquisitive personality and needs a pilot of intellect and daring. Pidge, you will pilot the Green Lion," she stops the rotation so that the planet which the Green Lion is located on landed in front of the only member whose name Tyra had not yet known.

"The Blue Lion-"  
"Woah, hold up, let me guess." Lance interrupts, a smug expression on his face. "Takes the most handsome slash pilot of the bunch?"  
Allura ignores his wink and continues with, "The Yellow Lion is caring and kind. It's pilot is one who puts the needs of others above his own. His heart must be mighty. As the leg of Voltron, you will lift the team up and hold them together," much to Hunk's surprise.

"The Red Lion is temperamental and the most difficult to master. It's faster and more agile than the others, but also more unstable. It's pilot needs to be someone who relies more on instincts than skill alone. Keith, you will fly the Red Lion."  
"What?" Lance interjects again giving him a dirty look. "This guy?"  
"Unfortunately, I cannot locate the Red Lion's coordinates yet. There must be something wrong with the castle. After 10,000 years, it might need some work."

"Don't worry," Coran jumps in. "We'll find it soon. They don't call me "The Coranic" for nothing. It's because it sounds like mechanic. So... Coranjx, mechanic. It's not- It doesn't sound...exactly like it. It's similar."

"Once all the lions are united, you will form Voltron," Allura narrates as one by one the holographic lions fly away to come together in the sky, forming a humanoid robot. "-the most powerful warrior ever known, the Defender of the Universe."

"Awesome!" Hunk cries.  
"Wait!" Tyra calls even louder than him. "When we first saw Voltron, there was another robot, an all-white one sitting beside it!" At the uneasy look shared between Allura and Coran, she continues. "Where is it?"  
As if struggling to get the words out, Allura purses her lips in annoyance, bringing up the universal hologram once more.

"The Tigress works as Defender of Voltron. In the heat of battle, there is always a chance that Voltron will be too pre-occupied to fully take out an opponent or dodge an attack. The pilot of the Tigress must be someone who will always push her teammates to grow stronger, yet willing to give her life on their behalf at a moment's notice. They must be one willing to go to the greatest lengths to complete their destiny, even while knowing they they are replaceable should the need arise. That is why, with great chagrin, Tyra, you will pilot the White Tigress."

Even as the joy that she had a part to play in all of this filled her to the brim, she couldn't help the sinking in her chest. They really did not need her. Voltron itself was complete without her Tigress, and if she died or her animal was lost, the universe could continue like nothing had happened. It was such a hopeless feeling of despair that the girl seemed to crumple in on herself, saying nothing in response to the newly acquired knowledge. She could feel the stares of everyone as they looked at her, head tilted to the ground in shame. No wonder Allura had been so hesitant to release the information to her. No one wants to know that they're expendable. Everyone else wasn't. None of the other five were replaceable on short notice but from what it sounds like, as long as there was someone to train with and someone willing to die for a cause, they would fit the bill.

Tyra turned away from them all, sprinting out of the room with her spear in tow, only increasing her pace when no one followed her. The lights lit up as she ran, but she didn't want light. She wanted to curl up in an underground cavern where the only thing you could hear is the movement of bugs and animals and cry because it was just so _fucking_ lonely with no one to talk to, no one to be with, no one to save you if you got injured or hurt or felt like killing yourself because at least it would be something different.

The darkest place she found was in a small alcove built into the wall. It wasn't comfortable in the least, but it was better than sitting on the floor and she believed herself to be far enough away where it wouldn't be easy to find her. "Hey," a voice calls out to her. It seems luck was not on her side today. "Shiro told me to come find you so that we can retrieve your, uh, Tigress."

"Go away Keith," she muttered brokenly. He simply sighs and stands in front of her location, doing his best not to look directly at her.  
"Come on Tyra," he tries. "We need you, especially with that Galra ship on the way."  
"You can say that now," she sighs, slowly moving her weary body. "But the day will come when Voltron will be able to truly be the Defender of the Universe, and I will wither away from the history books, and you know what?" She sniffs pitifully. "That's okay."

When they arrive at the pods, the others had already left and Coran told everyone that they could only keep the wormholes open for "two of your Earth hours," through the communication links. Apparently though, "these planets are relatively peaceful. So, if you do get stuck, they could be relaxing places to live out the rest of your lives." Because that was reassuring.

The link exploded with the panicked sounds of Hunk and Lance before they went through their wormhole, quickly followed by Tyra and Keith. When they came out on the other side, the planet was a rather small one, by planet standards, but seemed to be almost entirely encased in ice and snow. They descended into the atmosphere, breaking through the dense clouds to see that their guess was correct.

"How are we going to find a White Tiger in this?" Tyra questions incredulously. "Much less be able to survive long enough to find it!"  
"We'll find it, I know we will," Keith replied, searching the visual screen. "Doesn't this have some sort of heat sensor? Anything machine would need to keep its circuits unfrozen for it to work."

"Umm..." Tyra peruses her options, unsure. "This one," he decides, pressing a button at random. It doesn't seem to do much at all but as the come close to hitting the ground, Tyra feels an incredibly strong pull, as if her entire being was trying to pass right through the pod to land on the ground below.

"I-I think I might have found it!" She exclaims as they land none to gently on the ground, gliding through the ice and snow so perfectly that it flares up on either side as they stop. "Come on Keith it's not too far away!" Throwing open the door, the chill hits them hard. Not the frigid autumn day chill either, the kind in the middle of February that instantly sinks into your bones and you will not be able to feel warm for hours afterwards.

The snow was coming down so thick that she could barely tell the difference between the ground and the sky. Tyra put the hood of her jacket up as far as it would go, stabbing her staff into the ground to act as something stable. "Keith?" She called, turning around when there wasn't a reply. "Keith?!" She called louder, realizing that she had lost sight of the pod as well.

Should she continue onward? Her tiger was out there, calling to her, but her teammate might have gotten stuck or lost and could die. "I'll be back!" She calls, turning back around and pursuing onwards. It was so _cold._ Living in a desert for your life made sure that you were used to heat, that was no problem. The frigid temperatures were not compatible with her system and it was starting to make itself known.

Tyra's pace had slowed considerably since starting out, each step a much greater effort with her clothes soaked and the cold seeping into her bones. It's only a little farther, she kept telling herself, but even a little farther seemed like too much already. It was just so _cold._

The bond she felt was incredibly strong, but she could not see the tiger or any hint of it. Crawling on hands and knees, she pushed herself farther, just a little...farther. Tyra collapsed onto the snow, frigid skin meeting frigid air and frigid water. She just wanted to sleep, curl up into a ball here and finally sleep all of her fears and problems away. It would be nice, she mused. Even death would be better than the endless cold.

"No!" A voice calls out in her mind. Tyra's eyes snap open in response, peering through the snow to find the source. She had not idea where it had come from, nor what direction it might have been in, but she had an unexplainable urge to find it. On shaking limbs she rose, her wooden spear and determination the only things keeping her from plunging back down to never move again.

Three more steps was all her body could manage before it fell forwards once more. Tyra reached out with what seemed the last of her strength, her forefinger grazing a material different from the snow. That was the only connection required before a great shape shifted from beneath the surface and very slowly stood up. The red-haired girl looked upon a tiger in all of its metal glory moments before her vision became speckled in black, eventually coming to fill her entire sight until she saw no longer.


End file.
